Books and Documents

Iqbal R. Sama, New Age Islam

Exemplifying the universalism of the message of the Sikh Gurus, Habib explains that the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture which is regarded as Guru by the Sikhs, contains verses by Sikh Gurus as well as by several Muslim and Hindu men of God and in different languages. The teachings of this scripture, he tells us, are not specific to just one particular religious community but are of universal appeal and relevance, based on love for and devotion to the One God and leading an ethical life. There are strong parallels between these teachings and those of Muslim Sufis and Hindu Bhagats who advocated the path of love, Habib points out....

James H. Barnett

Similarly, while Wahhabist influence from the Gulf has certainly helped shape Nigerian Islam (many prominent Salafists in Borno attended the Islamic University of Medina), those who look for the Saudi bogeyman behind every unfortunate development in the Muslim world will be disappointed by Thurston’s assessment that Boko Haram is ultimately an indigenous product of north-eastern Nigeria—a movement set apart from more conventional Nigerian Salafism by its violence and exclusivism rather than its rejection of Western culture....

Aijaz Zaka Syed

Aijaz Zaka Syed

As our world becomes more and more interconnected and the forces of globalisation make borders irrelevant, the movement of people in search of a better life and opportunities is inevitable. Instead of fighting this natural change, the West and Muslim societies should come to terms with it and find a way forward....

Roshan Shah, New Age Islam

Salma was on a train on a winter morning and saw a woman hug her little child close. The girl was very cold, and her mother was trying hard to keep her warm with her Dupatta. Without a second thought Salma took off her shawl and gave it to the woman and insisted they keep it and got a great way to use the YTN card!...

Lyala Khan

Nazia Erum

Incidents of Islamophobia are common and – for those of us who are targeted by them – easy to recognise. The biggest accomplishment of Erum’s book, therefore, has been to document these stories for those who would not as easily have noticed, or even imagined, their existence. As she puts it herself, she has begun to fill a large gap in Indian literature...

Sudhir Chandra

Gandhi…had wanted to avoid the country’s partition. Failing in that he engaged himself in preventing the division of hearts, emphasising that even as the country had been divided, the hearts must not be divided. Also knowing that if the hearts had not been divided, the country could never have been divided and contending with this paradox, because he understood that neither India nor Pakistan stood to gain in the absence of mutual friendship. Should one become hell, the other can never be heaven.....

Anna Della Subin

“I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine,” Murad concludes. Despite recent gains against ISIS in Iraq, many Yazidis still remain in captivity. As a story that hasn’t yet ended, “The Last Girl” is difficult to process. It is a call to action, but as it places Murad’s tragedy in the larger narrative of Iraqi history and American intervention, it leaves the reader with urgent, incendiary questions: What have we done, and what can we do?...

Zakia Soman

Zakia Soman

The crucial chapter about the Quran records all the important principles enshrined and underlines their relevance in modern times. Fair play, decency, trust, honesty in daily transactions are emphasised in the Quran. Peaceful co-existence, non-violence, non-dynastic rule, freedom of religion, impartiality, compassion, kindness, justice, decorum and good behaviour are some of the values explained at length using quotes from various verses and anecdotes from the life of the Prophet....

Nazia Erum

Nazia Erum

“If they think we are terrorists then we will show them what we can do. How can they say that to us? Every time there is a terror attack in the news, my classmates ask me the next day, “Arre Yeh Kya Karwa Diya Tumne? [What have you done now?]” “As if I am responsible!” When I asked Raffat why he gets into physical fights instead of complaining to the school authorities, he says that there is no point in trying to reason away the unreasonable. “If they want to fight, we cannot shy away!” said the visibly upset young man....

Akbar Ahmed

Akbar Ahmed

Neither Indians nor Pakistanis quite forgave Dina Wadia for being Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s daughter; the former made her life miserable through a protracted, mean-spirited grab for her father’s house in Bombay and the latter ignored her as an embarrassment who dared to marry a non-Muslim in defiance of her father’s wishes. ...

Lesley Hazleton

The main point of the Quran’s discussion of violence is to establish limitations on its use, and to “abstain from violence to the degree that that is possible.” While a few endlessly cited verses have to do with violence, “the overall tenor is one of mercy and forgiveness, which are evoked everywhere, almost obsessively.” This is what is striven for in the Quran, not war....

Roshan Shah, New Age Islam

Over time, then, while earlier generations in the West had regarded the existence of God as a natural and fundamental belief, as something that was self-evidently true, many now took a diametrically opposed view. They began claiming that atheism was the natural philosophy of humanity and that it was the beliefs of religious people that required rational explanation. They insisted that belief in God was a form of wishful thinking for consoling weaker and foolish people and for exploiting the poor, or an illusion created by fearful minds to console themselves in the face of what they regarded as the universe’s meaninglessness....

Rana Safvi

Rana Safvi

The Mughal association with it began with the Battle of Khanwa between Babur and Rana Sanga in 1527. After his victory, Babur constructed a garden there, which he named Bagh-e-Fatah (victory garden). The village was renamed Shukri (place of thanksgiving). Babur’s grandson Akbar ordered the construction of a royal city, which then served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571, on an isolated elevated, rocky ridge. Thus was built a majestic imperial city....

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

The final – and, I think, most powerful – value in this data is its ability to lead us from problems to solutions. With more understanding, we might find ways to reduce the world’s supply of nasty attitudes. Let’s return to Obama’s speech about Islamophobia. Recall that every time he argued that people should respect Muslims more, the people he was trying to reach became more enraged. Google searches, however, reveal that there was one line that did trigger the type of response Obama might have wanted. He said: “Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbours, our co-workers, our sports heroes and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform, who are willing to die in defence of our country.” After this line, for the first time in more than a year, the top Googled noun after “Muslim” was not “terrorists”, “extremists”, or “refugees”. It was “athletes”, followed by “soldiers”.” And, in fact, “athletes” kept the top spot for a full day afterwards. When we lecture angry people, the search data implies that their fury can grow. But subtly provoking people’s curiosity, giving new information, and offering new images of the group that is stoking their rage may turn their thoughts in different, more positive directions.....

Vivek Sinha, exclusive excerpts on New Age Islam

Vivek Sinha

“…it’s only to cement our ideology in the Muslim minds. The billions of dollars continue to pour in only to erase all other competing versions and interpretations of Islam for Muslims, and for the rest of the world. These funds are put into the laps of shady businessmen like you so that you expunge all other interpretations and establish that Wahhabism is the only version of Islam....

Raziuddin Aquil

Raziuddin Aquil

The Turks, Afghans and Mughals, amongst other sets of Muslim immigrants from Central Asia, Iran and the Middle East, were essentially urban people and wherever they settled down in the subcontinent, new cities and towns emerged. In some cases, following the change in political regimes as well as a dominant Muslim presence, a pre-existing city was renamed and transformed into a Muslim stronghold. Also, the prolonged interaction between Muslim urban centres and a predominantly Hindu rural hinterland led to the gradual diffusion of Islam in this region….

Yusuf Khan, New Age Islam

Eaton stresses that life is to be lived not according to our self-will, but, rather, according to God’s guidance. This is something that not just Muslims but all other people who believe in God would readily agree with. Another theme common to all religions that Eaton touches on is life after death (for which this life is a preparation). He reminds us: ‘Religion assures us—all the authentic religions say this, whether openly or by implication—that what lies beyond our brief life or, to put it another way, what lies outside the little world we know, is more real than anything that we experience here.’?....

Rehana Shaikh

Karo Kari or honour killing in upper Sindh is
popularly perceived as a phenomenon according to which a male relative can kill
a woman and her lover, if he thinks that his ‘honour’ has been violated due to
sexual relations between the two, relations that are not sanctified by society
via marriage.

The ultimate
vindication of honour lies in physical violence, as ‘to kill or die for honour’
is a regular phrase that resounds in discourse on honour in this area. However,
it is also important to note that the static binaries of honour violence, as a
relationship between men and women...

Fozia Khan

When we met
Katie, she had very strong views about Muslims: that she wouldn’t want to sit
next to a Muslim on a bus; how she was fearful of women wearing the Niqab. But
she also wanted to try to understand the Muslim community and had a genuine
desire to have her preconceptions challenged. We hoped that people who shared
some of Katie’s views would go on the journey with her. I think the disguise
element was an absolutely crucial part of this....

Sumaira Samad

Sumaira Samad

A primary theme
characterising the various eras is that of degeneration and decay. The
Mohenjo-Daro of 2084 BCE is a city in decline. The spirit that inspired its
great civic planning, egalitarianism and vast trading networks has given way to
narrow self-interest, hollow rituals, and intrigue. The Takshasila of 455 CE is
also about to change forever; the reforming spirit of Buddhism is dwindling and
both secular and religious authorities follow a myopic, self-serving path.
Mughal India, meanwhile, is at the height of its splendour, a rich blend of
various cultures and religions....

Andrew Anthony

Andrew Anthony

The hatred that
manifests in the euphemism “anti-Zionist” serves today to normalise the
ever-embattled condition of Jews who, by dint of being Jewish, are viewed as
part of an international conspiracy to deny Palestinian rights. If that seems
hyperbolic, why is it a typical sight in Britain and Europe to see Jewish
schools, community centres and synagogues under guard – armed guard in
France?....

Christopher de Bellaigue

In our age,
Islam is often taken to task for the violent imagery that is contained within
the Qur’an, and the example set by its warrior-prophet, Muhammad, but less
often scrutinised is the propensity of Christianity for acts of savagery. Many
early Christians held to the pacifism of St Basil, who laid down that
Christians who had shed blood were not eligible for communion, but St Augustine
of Hippo developed the doctrine of the just war, arguing that it was
meritorious to use violence against those who held other religious beliefs....

Pew Research Centre

On some other
issues, publics in Eastern Europe have similar views regardless of their
country’s church-state relationship. There is no clear difference, for example,
on views about democracy. In countries with or without official or preferred
religions, similar shares of people view democracy as preferable to any other
kind of government (medians of 47% and 46%, respectively). Similarly, on the
topic of pluralism, medians of 50% in both types of countries say it is better
if society consists of people from different nationalities, religions and
cultures (as opposed to a homogeneous society)....

Pew Research Centre

Islam is the
most common government-endorsed faith, with 27 countries (including most in the
Middle East-North Africa region) officially enshrining Islam as their state
religion. By comparison, just 13 countries (including nine European nations)
designate Christianity or a particular Christian denomination as their state
religion. But an additional 40 governments around the globe unofficially favour
a particular religion, and in most cases the preferred faith is a branch of
Christianity. Indeed, Christian churches receive preferential treatment in more
countries – 28 – than any other unofficial but favoured faith....

Nosheen Iqbal

Nosheen Iqbal

“When the movie
was released in Israel and Palestine, it was like a bomb for both sides,” says
Hamoud, her hands flicking for emphasis. “There were walkouts. It was a shock
to the system for Palestinian society, about rebelling from the mainstream, and
people feeling shame about themselves. But a lot of people – women, gay people,
alternative scenes – were just so pleased it represented them.”....